The holidays have a funny way of sneaking up on everyone. One minute, you’re thinking about summer vacations, and the next, every store is covered in twinkle lights, and Mariah Carey is back on the radio. For businesses, however, holiday advertising shouldn’t be quite so spontaneous.

Billboards can put your brand in front of thousands of people during one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year, but the best locations aren’t always available at the last minute. From reserving space to perfecting your creative, giving yourself a head start with help from a billboard advertising agency can make your holiday campaign much easier to execute.

Start Planning Two to Four Months Ahead

As a general rule, start planning your holiday billboard campaign about two to four months before you want it to appear. That doesn’t necessarily mean your artwork needs to be finished months ahead. It simply means you should start thinking about your goals, budget, locations, and timing.

Popular billboard locations can become competitive around major shopping periods. Starting early gives you more opportunities to choose placements that actually make sense for your audience, rather than settling for whatever happens to be available.

Talk to a Billboard Advertising Agency Before the Holiday Rush

If you’re unsure where to begin, contacting a billboard advertising agency early can simplify the process. An agency can help you explore available inventory, compare locations, coordinate production, and determine how long each step will take.

Getting started early also means having more flexibility. You can compare options instead of rushing into a decision simply because Thanksgiving is two weeks away and somebody suddenly remembered the billboard campaign.

Work Backward From the Date You Want Your Campaign Live

Rather than asking when you should start planning, first decide when you want people to see your billboard. Then work backward from that date.

For example, a Black Friday campaign shouldn’t make its debut after shoppers have already filled their carts. You may want it running days or even weeks beforehand. The same principle applies to Christmas shopping, holiday events, travel promotions, and New Year’s offers. Your billboard should appear while customers are making decisions, not after they’ve made them.

Give Yourself Time To Find the Right Billboard Locations

A fantastic billboard in the wrong location can still miss the mark. Choosing placement means considering who travels through an area, where they’re headed, and how frequently they’ll encounter your message.

Holiday campaigns might benefit from locations near shopping districts, busy commuter routes, entertainment areas, airports, or major highways. Starting early gives you more time to compare those possibilities and secure placements that match your audience. 

Don’t Leave the Creative Until the Last Minute

Securing a great location is only half the battle. Your billboard also needs something worth looking at, and creating an effective design can take more time than you might expect.

Holiday advertising can get visually busy very quickly. Between snowflakes, gift boxes, festive colors, promotional offers, logos, and calls to action, there’s a temptation to squeeze everything onto one billboard. 

However, it’s important to resist that urge. Drivers and pedestrians typically have only a few seconds to absorb your message, so simple creative is usually stronger creative.

Build enough time into your schedule for brainstorming, copywriting, design, internal approvals, and revisions. Traditional billboards may also require printing and installation, while digital billboards can offer more flexibility when creative needs to change quickly.

Remember That “Holiday Advertising” Isn’t Just December

When someone says “holiday campaign,” Christmas might immediately come to mind. However, the holiday advertising calendar is much bigger than a few weeks in December.

Depending on your business, your campaign could revolve around Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, or even post-holiday sales. More importantly, consumers often begin planning and shopping well before the occasion itself.

Think about when your audience starts making decisions. A retailer promoting holiday gifts may want visibility before Thanksgiving, while a restaurant advertising New Year’s Eve reservations might benefit from a later campaign. Your customers’ behavior should determine your timeline.

Already Behind Schedule? You May Still Have Options

Digital billboards may enable quicker launches because they don’t require physical printing and installation. Depending on availability, you might also adjust your campaign dates, target different neighborhoods, narrow your geographic footprint, or focus on a later holiday.

Make Your Holiday Message Impossible To Miss

When it comes to holiday billboards, earlier planning generally means more options. Starting a few months ahead can give you breathing room to find strong locations, develop memorable creative, handle approvals, and get everything ready before consumers enter full holiday-shopping mode.

If you’re targeting especially competitive locations or major shopping periods, starting even earlier doesn’t hurt. Your audience may wait until December to think about the holidays, but your billboard strategy shouldn’t. Plan ahead, get into position, and make sure your message is already waiting when holiday shoppers hit the road.